Barrel



(No Model.)

J. T. SMITH.

BARREL.

No. 364,606. Patented June '7, 1887.

WITNESSES; w A ZW ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN '1. SMITH, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES FUST, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

BARREL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 364,606, dated June '7, 1887.

Serial No. 231,758. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN T. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of San Francisco, county of San Francisco, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Barrels for Dry Material, of which the following is a specification, ref erence being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to barrels which are designed forflour, meal, cement, and similar dry material, and has for its object to provide a stave-joint which will not open under exposure to changes in the weather.

In barrels now in general use it is impracticable to get joints between the staves which will retain the material when the staves are dry. If the hoops are put on after the staves have been seasoned and when very dry, the hoops will burst when the barrel is exposed to moisture. Flour and similar fine dry material will work out and waste between the staves after the slightest contraction of the wood.

By my invention I entirely overcome this defect and provide what I call a protective N or compensating joint.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and is hereinafter fully described and' particularly claimed.

In the drawings, like letters referring to like parts throughout, Figure 1 is a central crosssection of a barrel embodying the preferred form of my improvement. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are details of the same, Fig. 2 being a plan view of the metallic strip with which I connect two adjacent staves. Fig. 3 is a plan of a single stave with the metallic-strip in position; and Fig. 4 is a side elevation or edge view of the stave, showing the strip channel or groove.

A is a barrelstave, of which any suitable number may be used to make'a barrel of the required size, though I prefer to make the staves of suiiicient breadth so that about twelve staves will be used for the ordinary barrel. 1n the edges of the stave I cut a narrow channel, a, not exceeding one-sixteenth of an inch, in width, about one-fourth inch in depth, extending to within about one half inch of the chine-grooves at each end. This channel may be cut out in any suitable way, but is preferably made by running the stave edgewise, by a gage, over a thin circular saw having a diameter of not over three inches and an edge of not over one-sixteenth of an inch. In this 5 way the channel may be cut of like width throughout close up to the chine-grooves.

B is ametallic strip of the same length as the channels a and of substantially the same thickness; but it is of a width a little greater than the aggregate depth of the adjacent channels of two contiguous staves. For example,

if the channel a be cut, as stated, one-fourth inch deep, then the strip B should be nine-sixteenths or five-eighths of an inch in breadth. 6 One edge of this metallic strip is preferably scored in four or five or more places, as found necessary, as shown at b, in order to make it conform the more readily to the stave-curve when placed in position. This strip B is placed in the channels a of two adjacent staves and the barrel is put together and hooped in the customary way. When the hoops are driven home, the strip-edges will be drawn back to a straight line, and in virtue of its greater width it will be sunk into the wood at the bottom or back of the channels a,- hence,

no difference if the stave be green,or even wet, when it comes to season or dry on exposure to the sun or heat from any other source the So contraction of the two adjacent staves will never be great enough to open the joint. The edges of the strip will always be either buried in or in contact with the backs of the channel a, and none of the dry material, no difference 8 5 how finely powdered, can escape.

I claim- An improved barrel for dry material, substantially as described, consisting of a series of staves, A, provided each with the chano nels a on their opposite edges extending from points inside but near the opposite chinegrooves, andthe thin metallic strip B, inserted in the adjacent channels of the contiguous staves and having a width, greater than the 5 aggregate depth of the said adjacent channels, as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN T.- SMITH.

In presence of-- EMMA F. ELMORE, J. F. WiLLIAMsoN. 

